It was a good warning, @rockvillemom My D2 had one of our old cars in another state and after checking carefully with our insurance co (becuse it was garaged OOS,) I never thought about state or city regs.
Exactly. If you already know there is a Virginia auto tax, it is east to google and find the website and register and pay the tax.
But if you have no idea that such a thing even exists, how would you know? We have never owned cars in any other state besides Maryland. Now we know to dig deep on such issues when we or our sons move.
Until recently, I owned the car my son has always driven. I live in Maryland, as does my son. When I called the insurance company to tell them the car was now “usually housed” at a different address (his) they (Erie Insurance) informed me that the car could no longer be insured as my car if it wasn’t housed at my house and he wasn’t in college. Fortunately, he’s now 24, so it wasn’t a huge cost difference to change the title to him and have him get insurance. I think the title and tag change was only $10, because we have the same last name. Just another warning to those who might not otherwise know.
Many southern states have the auto property tax or similar. Often several hundred dollars and more per year.
@1214mom - interesting - our insurance is through the Hartford and they have allowed us to keep the car housed in Virginia on our policy as we explained it would just be for a year or two and then we were selling that car. We provided son’s Virginia DL and address. And we have another car in NC with that son who is in grad school. Going to get all of this sorted out.
PA stopped issuing stickers for our license plates, so mine looks like it is expired. It was a cost cutting measure.
There is a yearly safety inspection and also an every other year emissions inspection in NoVA counties.
Maryland is weird because we randomly get notices for emissions inspections. They aren’t the same month each year on the same car; they just show up whenever.
@rockvillemom your grad school student is still in college…and that might make it OK to have him use your car in another state.
You told your insurance company that it “was only going to be a year or two”. Didn’t you say your son has been there since the beginning of 2017?
And while this “might” be OK with your insurance company…the reality is…your son is a resident of VA with a car garaged in VA…
I am glad you got some deduction of the costs for this. But even you agreed upstream that the car situation needs to be dealt with.
We are moving to VA this month, so thank you for the head’s up on the car tax. I’d read everything on the DMV website, so I know about emissions and safety testing, but hadn’t heard about the tax. We live in CT where we pay property tax on cars to the city/town you live in, but we don’t have to do anything about that other than pay the bill when it arrives in the mail. CT DMV notifies the town about the details of your car, so you do nothing and there’s no decal to put on the windshield. Apparently in VA, you have to register with the county in addition to DMV. Good to know.
The Virginia Car tax is due October 5 every year. I suppose if the date falls on a weekend, it is moved to the next business day.
A few years ago it was a big point in the elections. It never went away.
If your son is in Fairfax County, FairfaxCounty.gov is very comprehensive.
The due date will vary by locality. @shellfell, after you get your vehicles registered through the DMV, just call the Commissioner of Revenue and ask if you need to do anything. When we moved here 20+ years ago, we just got a bill.
@CAP, the emissions in MD isn’t random; it’s every two years. You have an eight week window to get tested. With multiple cars, more than likely it feels like it’s random b/c the cars will have different test dates depending on when they were purchased and when the last inspection was done. We have three cars - they are on completely different cycles with emissions inspections. Car registration renewal, which is also is every two years, but is the same date every two years, makes it seems like we’re always renewing something at our house. I’ll say to dh, “didn’t we just go to emissions recently?” Alas, thankfully we don’t have car inspections every year like in VA, although some cars on the road sometimes makes me think it’s necessary!
Yes, in MD, we renew registration on our 4 cars every 2 years and do the emissions test on each car every 2 years. They are flexible re extending the due date on the emissions test if you request an extension because the car is out of state with a college kid. MD has been easy.
@cap - thanks for mentioning the Virginia emissions test - did not know that! Everything I read yesterday re how to register a car in Virginia mentioned the annual inspection, but I saw nothing on emissions. Will add to my notes and tell son to research.
@shellfell - exactly - the VA DMV does nothing - you have to know there is a car tax and go to the county website to register each car. It is not integrated.
I didn’t even see info on VA DMV’s website about needing to register with the county. You’d think they would at least do that for new residents.
“New residents” seems to presume you’re the owner/lessee.
In my case, I am the owner, but there’s still no info on needing to register with the county, unless you check the county website. Coming from CT, where there are counties, but no county governments, I would never have thought to do that.
If you register your car with the DMV in Virginia you will automatically get a bill from the locality where the vehicle is registered. It’s when the vehicle is registered out of state but used regularly in VA that the owner must let the locality know.
It seems fair that a car that is driven and used in Virginia is subject to Virginia property taxes. Otherwise, many might duck that tax. I don’t know about lots of local taxes. For example, there is a storm water fee and recreational tax in some localities. I don’t think it’s anyone’s responsibility other than mine to be aware of taxes where I live. I understand being blind sided. But it’s nobody’s “fault” besides the resident. Plus, the DMV and property taxes are completely separate.
Also, here in NC, if you register a used car, like your son will, there is a highway use tax (HUT). It is a percentage (I think 3%) of the value of the car. It was a surprise expense for me when my parents gave me their car and later when I took their car due to dementia. Check if VA has such a fee.
My understanding is that I need a decal on my car to prove I’ve registered with the county, and that decal has to be there within 30 days of moving to VA. It seems like more than just automatically getting a bill - unless I’m reading it wrong.
ETA - I’m not referring to the inspection sticker.